Quote:
Originally Posted by newmg
hi everyone.I am a recently (relatively new) diagnosed mg patient.
As part of the routine investigations I had a CT scan and an MRI and as expected, my thymus was found to be enlarged (no exact dimensions provided) but the transcervical approach seems to be possible.
However, I do not want to have a surgery unless the enlargement is of a cancerous nature, but it seems that there is no proper way to assess it. Would you be so kind to share with me if there are any known methods used to identifying a tymoma before surgery ,without biopsy if possible?
thank you
|
NewMG- Having an enlarged thymus, and not knowing whether it is cancerous or not can very scary and doing the transverical approach doesnt seem to me very viable. I know they say that they can get most of it/all of it out whilst not cutting your breastbone open. Yet what if they dont? Theyd have to go back in and get the rest out..what if they left a few pieces in that were cancerous and didnt notice them? Im not trying to be a downer here, yet my doctor went straight for the cracking of the breastbone, and at 17 it was for sure scary, and I didnt want to do it.
Yet, over the process I had 3 CAT scans, and none of them showed a thymoma, yet when the surgeon went in, he was expecting to just see a few pieces of the thymus gland floating around, yet he found a softball sized tumor pressing agaisnt my heart, inside my thymus.
How would a surgeon deal with that if he had gone in transversally?
I know the other way is much more unfeasible for many people as they have to work, yet, it might be worth the downtime after surgery to have the sternotomy done.
And why would you not want to have surgery, unless it is cancerous? This disease can mess with your body much more than just this disease. It can progress greatly, just in a matter of a few days. And having the thymus out, i know its a cure for some, as myself as of yet, but it still is one step closer to helping your body realize whats wrong.
The only way i believe to tell if the thymoma is cancerous is to take a piece of it out to biopsy it, so why wouldnt you just have them take out if possible to check it anyway....